Once Insurmountable NBC and CNBC Suffer a Losing Streak

NBC News was for years the network juggernaut that raked in the ratings and the cash. It was also widely respected for its journalism standards. Now, the once-respected news organization is wobbling after months of self-inflicted blunders. The missteps include personnel disasters and questionable news judgments. These preventable gaffes suggest a news hierarchy at NBC that has lost its compass, operating as a misguided corporate bureaucracy and not as a journalistic service to the nation.

NBC pioneered broadcast news in the late 1920s with radio news updates from the legendary Floyd Gibbons. The network was the first to venture into television news, with nightly updates from John Cameron Swayze beginning in 1949. The “Huntley-Brinkley Report” later followed and dominated ratings. After news surges by CBC and ABC, NBC reemerged in the mid-'90s to again command the broadcast news landscape.